Heating system and means



May ze, 192s.

E. L. OVINGTON HEATING SYSTEM AND MEANS Filed Aug., 23, 1921 ,mmmm

[VEN TOR, '/Ze L. Oymfo; W

A TTORNEY,

Patented May 26, 1925.

UNITED STATES EARLE L. OVINGION, OF SANTA BARBARA, CALIFRNIA.

HEATING SYSTEM AND MEANS.

Application filed August 23, 1921.

. To all w hom t may conce/mi.

Be it known that I, EARLE L. OvlNe'roN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Santa Barbara, in the county of Santa Barbara and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements Iin HeatingSystems and Means, of which the following is a specification.

rlhis invention relates to heating systems and means, and moreparticularly to systems and means of and for heating dwelling rooms andapartments. The invention has for its object to provide an improvedsystem and improved means of this general character which will besuperior in point of relative simplicity and inexpensiveness ofconstruction, organization and arrangement, taken in conjunction witheconomy in fuel, more even a-nd effective and efficient distribution ofheat, neatness and sightliness in appearance, economy as to utilizationof space, and general serviceability, and, as a particular obj ect, thecapability of effectively maintaining a circulation of heated :airthroughout t-he compartment or room or interior which is served.

'Ihe operation of the invention preferably includes reliance upon theprinciple of convection with or without radiation, and the heated air iscaused to circulate freely and extensively throughout the heatedinterior and back again to the source of heat, a thermal circuit beingthus maintained in the room and insuring` a substantialy uniform heatingof all portions thereof.

In practicing the invention I preferably provide a metallic fire placehaving a heating chamber surrounding aI portion of the same, with an airinlet opening leading to the heating chamber and an air outlet openingleading from said heating` chamber into a room. A grill is placed at anend of the room or a portion of the room remote from the fire place witha pipe member communieating with said grill and leading to the interiorof said heating chamber. The grill, as stated, is preferably placed at apoint remote from the heating chamber. It will thus follow that acirculation of air is produced by this system, inasmuch as the air willpass out of the air outlet opening from the heating chamber and thenback through the grill into the pipe connecting the grill with theheating chamber. I am aware that the idea of taking air from the room,circulating it behind a metallic fire place, and

Serial No. 494,722.

passing it out into the room again is not new. However, with myconstruction I obtain many important advantages. Most heaters of thenature stated are obviously not ordinary fire places because the airinlet and outlet are both visible, the air usually entering through agrill nearthe floor, passing behind the tire place to be heated, and outagain through a grill vhigher than the first one into the room. In thisconstruction the heated air comes straight out of the grill and becauseit is highly heated it ascends rapidly to the ceiling near the fireplace.

In addition, because the inlet and outlet f pipes are in proximity tothe fire place itself, the convection currents are confined to that endof the room and other portions of the room are not properly heated.

To overcome this feature I so arrange my construction that the outletfor'the heated air into the room is not only concealed, but I arrangethe mantel that the heated air is deflected downwardly so that it musttrav-T erse quite a space from the fire place before it rises. Thiseffect is intensified by locating the air inlet'at a point remote fromthe lire place. As air is taken 'from the room at this remote pointthere is a tendency towsard a vacuum andthe heated air from the mantelis drawn into this void, the result being that the convection currentsare from the mantel downwardly, then slowly rising for a greater orlesser distance and then toward the point of reduced atmosphericpressure by the air being withdrawn from the room by the lire placeinlet. By locating the air inlet at the end of the roo-m opposite thefire place I have no difficulty in heating the most remote corners ofthe room. It will thus follow that I heat the entire room instead ofmerely heating the room in the vicinity of the fire place.

With the above and other objects in View, the invention consists in thenovel and useful provision, formation, construction, association,relative arrangement and interrelation and application of parts, membersand features, all as hereinafter described, shown in the drawing, andfinally pointed out in claims.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a vertical fragmentary sectional view through a portion of adwelling house and illustrating the installation and mode of applicationof the invention, said view being on the line @e1- m1, Figure 2, and

looking in the direction of the appended arrows;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of part of the showing of Figure 1, and ofa portion of the flue shown therein; and,

Figure 3 is a detail horizontal sectional View taken upon the lineact-053, Figure 2, and looking in the direction of the appended arrows,the same being fragmentary and showing a portion of a circulationconduit shown in section in Figure 1.

Corresponding parts in all the figures are designated by the samereference characters. l

Referring'now with particular-ity to the drawing, A designates oneupright wall of a dwelling house or other building construction, thesame having a flooring B, while the opposite wall C is interrupted forthe installation of a source of heat D. Said source of heat is shown as`consisting of wooden logs d installed within the tire place unit ewhich is provided with a hearth f, above which hearth the logs d areshown as suitably .supported upon fire dogs or and- Virons 1. The tireplace unit e is supported at four points as at 2,3, 4 and by sheets ofasbestos 6, or the like. The said unit e may comprise a chamber havingsheet metal walls 7 set into an enlarged heating cham;- ber g extendingrearwardly of the wall C Aand being confined at the front, back andsides by Vbrick walls 8. The chamber g is enclosed at the top by amantel 9 formed of concrete or other material, and which mantel includesa mantel-shelf S overhangs the -Afront wall 8 as shown at 9a. Thisconstruction provides the depending masking wall for concealing an airduct 10 provided-in the front wall 8, and which duct 10 communicatesthrough the front wall with the room E included within the walls A andC. The inside portion of the mantel 9 where it overhangs as at 9a ispreferably curved, as sh'own at 9", and such overhanging man tel portion9a with the curved portion 9b tends to deflect the heated air currentsVdownwardly and outwardly for circulation to points remote from the fireplace unit as indicated by the arrows. The air heating chamber gsurrounds the fire place unit e at the back and sides, and such fireplace unit has preferably upwardly directed walls 7a communicating withthe stack or flue 11 which projects upwardly through the mantel 9 andcommunicates with the open air, being screened by the wall C.

An air circulation conduit F is provided beneath the iioor B and thefloor beams 12 thereof, and communicates at one end, as at 13, with theinterior of the room E adjacent tothe wall A, or at a point remote fromthe source of heat D, and communicates at the other end, as at 14, withthe heating chamber g, at a point underneath the vfire lvided for aplace unit e. This air circulation conduit may be of variedtransverse'dimensio'ris, and

it may be branched out to extend to other similarnopenings 13 in thefloor B, or a 'plurality of lsuch conduits F may be pro- 70 K Y iveninterior, all communicating with the ieating chamber g.

In practice, combustion being supported at the logs d, the metallic wall7 of the fire place unit e will become highly heated, the,75 heat beingconducted to 'air in the heating chamber g, and convection currents ofheated air will thereupon ascend vin such heating 'chamber and passoutwardly through the air duct 1() to the spaces exterior of the 80Walls 8, those passing through the duct 10 in the forward wall 8 beingdirected outwardly into the room E by the overhanging portion 9a of themantel 9, and circulating throughout the room E. The slightly Acbol- S5ing air in the room E will descend to the floor B thereof because of itsincreased weight, and the larger portion thereof will find its way tothe opening 13, (preferably covered by a foraminous register plate 13a),90 and its flow to and through the conduity F will be induced by theascending air 'currents in the heating chamber g'. Thus a continuousthermal circuit of heated and heating air currents will be maintainedthroughout the I heating chamber g, the room E, and the conduit F. It isobvious that the construction vshown may likewise serve other rooms andto that end suitable air conducting pipes h may be provided, the saidpipes extending' through the mantel 9`and leading to theheating chamberg. Of course a similar conduit F will have to be provided at each'roomassociated with the heated air conducted to said room through the pipesh in order to promote circulation as before.

The hot surfaces of the walls 7 and 7a of the fire place unit c and itsstack or flue 7Vb effectively impart their thermal units to the aircurrents traversing the heating chamber g, and a repeated reheating ofthe air in the room E, and the re-distribution of r'e-ci'rculationthereof'is produced. Fresh accre'- tions of air ma be caused byVentilating the room E, an certain accretions will always occur throughdoorV and window cracks and other crevices and openings. All of theproducts of combustion caused Within the fire place unite will passupwardly through the iue or stack 7", and the heated air currentsattending use of the inventitn will be pure air currents free from anycontamination by gases, smoke or other 'deleterious agents. ,The lireplace unit e will also radiate heat into the room E.

The entire appearance'of the fire place unit e, as viewed from the openrooni` E,

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Vwill simulate that of an ordinary fire place,

with its front wall A'8, and the mantel 9 `with 130 its overhang 9alwill simulate the ordinary or usual mantel-piece. The hre place unitinstallation may be Widely varied in style and design and equipment andthe particular source of heat D may be Widely varied, and any suitableand adapted source of heat may be employed, togetherl With any suitableand desired mantel arrangement or Wall construction and design for the.heating chamber g, all Within the spirit ot the invention, and theseand many other variations and modiications, it Will be understood, Willevidence no departure from the real invention or the true spiritthereof, Which is similarly vtrue of variations, modilications andsubstitutions .With respect to the circulation conduit F, and buildingfeatures.

Having thus disclosed my invention, I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent:

l. A lire-place construction including a Walled enclosure providing aheating chamber and the front Wall o1 said enclosure having a lire-placeopening and a heating opening communicating With the heating chamber,and a mantel-shelf above said heating opening and having a dependingWall masking said heating opening.

2. A fire-place construction including a Walled enclosure providing aheating chamber and the front Wall of said enclosure having a lire-placeopening and a heating opening communicating with the heating chamber, anouter hearth in front of the fireplace opening, and a mantel-shelf abovesaid heating opening and overlying the outer hearth, and saidmantel-shelf having an overhanging wall portion masking said heatingopening.

3. A lire-place construction including a Walled enclosure providing aheating chamber and the front Wall of said enclosure having a fire-placeopening and a heating opening communicating With the heating chamber, amantel-shelf formed by the continua tion of the top Wall of saidenclosure and having a depending heating-opening masking-Wallconstituting the front of the mantel-shelf.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

EARLE L. ovINGToN.

Witnesses J. RAVATTUE, Y KATHERINE FRANTz.

